The Texas Senate's new Sergeant-at-arms is Rick DeLeon, who replaces Carleton Turner. The last guy had the job for 20 years.

Jeffrey Kloster, general manager and counsel at RunTex — that's an Austin sporting goods outfit — is joining the Texas Education Agency as associate commissioner for health and safety. That portfolio includes everything from childhood obesity to homeland security to campus safety. He was a government guy before he went to the private sector; one of his bosses was then-Rep. Rick Perry, D-Haskell.

TEA also named Lizzette Gonzalez Reynolds senior advisor on statewide initiatives, replacing Christi Martin, who resigned. Reynolds' most recent gig was with the U.S. Department of Education.

Recovering: Former Gov. Mark White, after having a cancerous kidney removed at Houston's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. He's 66, and word is that the surgery was successful...

Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville, after double-bypass surgery in Austin. The 51-year-old's surgery was also successful.

Just a week after announcing he was a candidate for a liver transplant, state Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, got a new organ and is recovering from surgery.

A statement issued by his office Monday morning says he had the surgery Friday night and is in good condition.

It included a statement from his doctor, Dr. Joseph Galati:

"After Senator Gallegos' liver transplant was completed late Friday evening, he was making the progress we would have anticipated over the weekend, and this morning is resting comfortably in stable condition. As we had expected, the surgery went well, without complications.

"Given that Senator Gallegos was just subjected to a major surgical procedure 48 hours ago, I am pleased with his progress so far.

"Senator Gallegos has not received special treatment, nor did he need any; organs are allocated on rigid criteria based on medical need. He is fortunate that a compatible organ became available.

"Assuming unanticipated complications do not arise, I would project that Senator Gallegos can expect a smooth recovery, and that this procedure will be a very good next step in his recovery."

Gallegos has asked Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst not to schedule close-fought votes while he's out, a request that spurred speculation that his absence could affect Senate business for the entire legislative session. He said in that earlier announcement that his recovery from then-unscheduled surgery would take about three weeks.

But that's not the problem now that it might have been. With his surgery coming so early in the session, it's less likely that he'll have to miss much of importance during the legislative session. Lawmakers can't debate anything but emergency issues during the first 60 days of the 140-day session, and if all goes well, he'll be back at work well before that period is over.

Drop the other shoe: Gov. Rick Perry officially announced his expected appointment of H.S. "Buddy" Garcia to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Garcia's a former Senate and Perry staffer who, until now, was the assistant Texas Secretary of State.

Gene Fondren, the former legislator and retired head of the Texas Automobile Dealers Association, will be "of counsel" to the Hilgers Bell & Richards law firm. He'll be working with car dealers around the U.S. on legal needs and regulatory work, when they need it.

Former assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Nichols joins the Texas attorney general's office as deputy AG for criminal justice. He was most recently in private practice at Houston-based Beck Redden & Secrest.

The moves are at least partly a response to the departure of Ed Burbach, who left his post as litigation chief for AG Greg Abbott to join the Gardere Wynne Sewell law firm, where he'll head litigation for the Austin office. David Morales was moved into the post of deputy AG for civil litigation, Burbach's job.

And Abbott rearranged his org chart, making Casey Hoffman, who'd been deputy AG for families and children, the executive first assistant AG. Alicia Key got a promotion to deputy AG for child support. Jeff Rose, the deputy first assistant, will add three litigation departments to his portfolio. Abbott left the rest of his top folks in place after starting his second four-year term.

Janelle Collier, general counsel for the Sunset Advisory Commission, is leaving that agency after five years to become committee director and general counsel for the Senate Jurisprudence Committee.

To the governor's press office, add two new deputy press secretaries: Katherine Cesinger, an LSU grad who's been an assistant in that office for two years... And Krista Moody, who worked in Florida for Gov. Jeb Bush and for that state's health and human services agency.

This ought to kill the theory in the lobby that Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, was a stalking horse for House Speaker Tom Craddick.Craddick punished his challengers when making his committee assignments, according to the challenger who made it to the end. Pitts, the former chairman of the budget-writing House Appropriations Committee, said Craddick chose "retribution over reconcilation" and declared himself disappointed. As evidence, he offered his committee preference card, saying the difference between what he sought and what he got illustrates his complaint.

That's what he requested. Craddick named him vice chairman of the Government Reform committee and put him on the tax-writing Ways & Means panel. Both are on his sheet, though they weren't his first picks. "Speaker Craddick had an opportunity to prove us wrong — to prove to us that he had heard the concerns about his leadership style and his tactics of retaliation and intimidation. I believe that he missed that opportunity with his committee assignments," Pitts said in a press release. Alexis DeLee, Craddick's spokeswoman, said Pitts isn't telling the truth. "Rep. Pitts met and talked with Speaker Craddick several times about his committee assignments," she said, also in a press release. "Speaker Craddick offered Rep. Pitts a seat on the Appropriations Committee. Rep. Pitts declined that offer. His statements to the contrary are not an accurate reflection of the exchanges between the two of them."